Forty-two percent of operators purchase the majority of their gluten-free products from an outside vendor, according to The Big Picture. The primary reason for doing this is little customer demand, with 47% of operators citing this reason. That number is significantly higher in schools, hospitals and nursing homes/senior living facilities. Each of those three segments had more than 50% of operators who said this was their top reason for purchasing gluten-free items from a vendor. B&I locations were significantly more likely to say they did not have enough knowledge to cook gluten-free items in house. Colleges were the most likely to say they purchased these items because they lacked kitchen space to prevent cross contamination.
